Friday, July 31, 2020

Trump … our very own Witch Doctor


 In 2008 Barack Obama was elected President. We Democrats were thrilled but little did we know what was in store for us. In our enthusiasm and naivety we took our eyes off the political ball and in 2010 the Tea-party side of the Republican party managed to take over and we've been paying for it ever since.

It is now 10 years later and nothing has changed. That became crystal clear with President Trumps recent support for a questionable “doctor's summit” on TV. These “frontline doctors” were espousing Trump's declaration that Hydroxychloroquine is a safe drug and very effective in fighting Covid 19 and that masks are not a necessity and it featured the eccentric Dr. Stella Emmanuel.

The video, (co-founded by Tea Party Patriots) which racked up more than 13 million viewers on Facebook (before it was taken down for promoting false information) included bizarre medical claims by Dr. Emmanuel, such as “some gynecological ailments are caused by people having sex in a dream world with demons”, etc.

When questioned about this at his daily press meeting Trump replied “I can tell you this. She was on the air along with many other doctors. They were big fans of hydroxychloroquine and I thought she was very impressive...” As one reporter pressed him further about masks he stormed out of the briefing room.  
Can you imagine that this is actually the leader of our country? God help us …..

(PS: Apologies to those who prefer only “feel good” articles. I agree that they are nice and give us a “breather” but I also feel strongly that we need to face what is actually going on or it will be our undoing. My next post is non-political !)




Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Paying it forward…

Earlier this month John Capron, a 23 year old college student from Boston, was casually browsing a thrift shop named Remarkable Cleanouts in Norwood, Massachusetts . 


When he saw a Whitney piano on sale for $200 he asked permission to try it out. Permission was granted and John, a self-taught pianist, sat down and treated the customers to an impromptu performance of Journey's rock hit “Don't Stop Believing”. The audience loved it and when word reached the owner of the store, Mark Waters, he wanted to thank John for creating such an interest in his store but John was long gone by them.

Mr. Waters finally tracked him down and told him that the piano was his for free if he'd just come in and pick it up. John was excited of course, but he had no idea what was really in store for him. 


Imagine the shock for John when the incredible store owner Mark Waters told him he'd decided to up the ante. Instead of the $200 Whitney piano Mark gave John a Steinway and Sons piano valued at $3,000 ! As Waters said “to see him cry made me cry. God bless America. I wish I could do this every day".



Thursday, July 23, 2020

A VERY STABLE GENIUS ????????


Trump is famous for not being able to stick to the facts and the list of outright lies that he's made since taking office now tops 20,000. However, both these things don't bother him a bit. Trump, the self-declared “very stable genius” has a new obsession and he's tearing up the TV airwaves with it.

It all came about when he and his Republican sycophants started attacking Joe Biden's mental and physical fitness to be President. It made Trump consider his own cognitive abilities and he was reminded of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment test that he had taken during his annual physical.

On Sunday, in a TV interview with Fox reporter Chris Wallace he brought it up and declared how difficult it was and how well he had fared. He said that he doubted if Biden could fare as well and he's determined to weaponize his performance against Biden and, although he doesn't seem to realize it, he is making a complete fool of himself.

I never thought I would have ANYTHING in common with Trump but I have to admit that I have taken this exam. The Dr. that I go to automatically has his patients over the age of 85 have an “Annual Wellness Exam” and, actually I found it interesting, informative and VERY EASY !

Friday, July 17, 2020

Happy Birthday Matt … July 18. 1960


Here you are at age one .




I will never forget the day that you were born. Dad and I were living in New York City and it was a terribly hot month. We, and your brother Mark (born July 3, 1959), were spending as much time as we could at the movies. We were trying to stay cool and it was about the only place in Manhattan that had air conditioning … or at least in a place that we could afford !

You weren’t due to be born until August so when a bad tummy ache woke me on July 18th I wasn't too concerned. However it soon became apparent that this was the “real thing” and when we called my doctor he advised us to get to the hospital ASAP. So we grabbed Mark and headed to the street to hail a cab.

The taxi driver was not happy to be driving a lady who was gasping for breath and yelling “you’d better hurry if you don’t want to deliver a baby in your cab”, because by this time I was really in labor. We were headed to Lennox Hill Hospital and it was across town from where we lived but we did make it in time …BARELY !

The cabdriver honked his horn and jumped out of the cab at the Emergency entrance looking for a nurse. One came running out with a wheelchair but after a very quick assessment she yelled “forget the chair. We need a stretcher stat…this babe is about to be born!” …and she was right. No time to get prepped at all. They rolled me direct to the OB birthing room and out you came. I was still on the stretcher and everyone was laughing and you were screaming your little head off.

It was an auspicious start and you haven’t slowed down since then. Even the smile is the same...




HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAFFY


Monday, July 13, 2020

XENOGRAFT saves the day

XENOGRAFT ...   a surgical graft of tissue from one species to an unlike                                        species or genus of family.   

For example ... a graft from a baboon to a human is a XENOGRAFT.

*************************************************

To further explain this interesting procedure I use this example:



Baby Trump has a tizzy fit, so ...


His loving family tries a surgical tissue graft with a baby Orangutan.


The mother orangutan assures baby Trump not to worry and that his wildest dreams will come true in the future.

HURRAY ... the graft is a success !   It is 2020 and Trump is living his dream !



.. and for the rest of us?   Let's just say that thousands of our people are resting in peace. 


Wednesday, July 08, 2020

1987 … Kenny keeps his "Eyes On The Prize"


There is a lot of attention being paid to the history of our country right now and it brings back this memory from 1987. My husband Dick and I had moved to North Carolina from New York and he had
hired a young black man named Kenny to help him in his remodeling business. They would often end the day back at the house and we would all share dinner as they talked over the next day's schedule.

This time also coincided with the airing of the award winning PBS documentary “Eyes on The Prize” America's Civil Rights ... 1954-1965". I mentioned it to Kenny and was amazed to learn that he knew little about his own history. He had been born and schooled in North Carolina but he said that he had never been taught ANYTHING about the Civil Rights movement.

Naturally he was as excited to watch the show as we were and as we viewed the segments nightly Kenny became more and more agitated. This was completely new to him and he was amazed at what he was seeing. He even began to take notes and would ask my opinion on what we had seen. The part that affected him the most was when Gov. George Wallace stood before the schoolhouse door in Alabama and blocked the entry of the black students.



I could see the conflict of emotions that were roiling inside of him as he watched and suddenly he turned to me and, in his heavy southern accent, he said something that I'll never forget. He said, "Mizzrus Richard, do you know what? Someday that Governor is going to get real old and used up and he's going to spend his last days in a nursing home. And do you know who's going to take care of him? WE ARE !"   It wasn't meant as a threat...he was simply stating a fact ... but it gave me a chill. I was glad he kept watching the series and could see that Gov. Wallace had a change of heart and begged forgiveness of the many people with whom he had clashed.

I remember thinking then that our day of reckoning would surely come and now, 23 years later, I can actually see a glimmer of hope … if we can just “Keep our eyes on the Prize”.


Saturday, July 04, 2020

His EGO tears down our country


On June 21st my Blogger friend AC in Canada posted this:




I'm sorry to say that it has just gone from bad to much worse since that time and I find it completely unbelievable. Now, thanks to the incredibly destructive actions of Trump, we are watching the racist and self-centered base of our population being courted by him and, sadly, they are responding. He has chosen this political course instead of concentrating on how to handle the pandemic that has overtaken our country. He has actually called it a “hoax” and shows no concern for it, or us, while we prove daily that it's a reality. 

I never, for the past 87 years and in my wildest dreams, envisioned the United States being taken to this low point. I, literally, have no words to express my sorrow and sense of shame that this has come to be. I pray that those of us who truly love our country will rise to the challenge and lead us forward to a place where we've never been … where “all men are created equal” will finally become a reality and not just empty words.